Christians & Politics

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. And if you're joining us for the very first time, my name is Brian Thomas, and I am joined today by my lovely wife, who is also co-host.

Hello, I'm Danita Thomas. And so we're today going to talk about the thing that comes around every four years that we just love so much. And I'm not talking about leap year.

I wish I was because that would be a lot more enjoyable. But we're talking about the presidential election. And of course, we know elections come around every two years, but the presidential election is every four years. It's not just the president. Of course, we know there are a ton of other other offices that are going on at the same time, but the presidential election is the one that is the focus. And, you know, every year it comes around, every time it comes around, every four years, we see the mudslinging that's going on.

And it's just it's very heated. And so we're going to talk about it today as to how Christians should approach it. And we're not going to tell you who to vote for.

We're not going to tell you what party to vote for. But we're going to share with you from a Christian perspective. And here at our ministry, God First, our motto is encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible.

And so that is just another way of saying a biblical worldview. And we're going to talk about politics and how we should view it through the window of the Bible. So, Danita, let's start by talking about what is the very first thing that we as Christians, believers in Jesus Christ, what should be the first thing we should do when it comes to voting? I think that the first thing we should do is pray. We can ask God to examine our hearts and to give us godly wisdom and discernment because God gives us wisdom and he gives it to us generously.

And I think that that's something that we definitely need as we go and get ready to assess each candidate. And so the first thing we need to do is be filled with the Holy Spirit. And when I say examine yourselves, I mean, you know, the Holy Spirit will convict your heart of anything that you need to have purged or confess a sin so that the Holy Spirit can fully connect you to God so that he can speak to you during this time as to which direction to go.

Yeah. And I agree with you on that because a lot of people, you hear them say, you know, vote your conscience. But the Bible says a conscience can become seared and you don't want to vote by seared conscience. So we need to seek the Holy Spirit, pray and don't go by your own motivations because when you really stop and pray and seek the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is what is guiding your decisions, not your own fleshly desires.

So after we have prayed, after we have asked to be filled with and guided by the Holy Spirit, we started looking at the issues of the candidates in the platform. And for me, number one is the sanctity of life. When I start to look at what this candidate stands for, what the platform of the candidate and the party stands for, I think about the sanctity of life, meaning the unborn.

And we're talking about abortion because we know here in the United States of America, more than 60 million babies have been killed through abortion. Proverbs six versus 16 through 17 reads these six things the Lord hates. Yes.

Seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lion tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. And there's no blood that is more innocent than that of an unborn child.

Yes. And I think it's also to understand, too, that we are all created in the image of God. And in Jeremiah one, verse five, it says, I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you.

So there there's a purpose for everyone. And God knows us even before we are even thought of by our parents. And so that shows you how precious and he formed us. He intricately formed us in our mother's womb.

And when you say intricate, that means it's personal to God. He is intricately forming each baby in the mother's womb. And so that the baby is a human being.

And so when an abortion happens, innocent blood is being shed. That's murder. Yep. That's right.

That's right. And there are people out there. I've had discussions with people personally. I've heard the talking points on the television shows in which people will say, well, don't be a one issue voter. There are more issues out there than just that one thing.

But for me, if if you cannot pass the test on that one issue, I don't need to hear anything else that you have to say. I'm not interested in anything else you have to say, because if you're going to tell me that you are in favor of a baby in the womb, losing its life, being murdered, then there's nothing else that, you know, I can say, well, I can get past that if you're going to have a great economy or because when you don't do something God's way, you can have the best economy on paper that there's ever been. But if you're going to share it, if you're going to advocate for and pass legislation on shedding the innocent blood of babies, that that that economic plan is going to mean nothing because God won't let it prosper.

Now, on the other hand, if you take a candidate who says, well, I'm standing for the unborn, they're going to do things based on God's rules. Maybe their economic plan is not the best in the world. It may not be what a economics professor would share as the best way to do it. But because he or she is handling things based on the word of God, God can supernaturally calls that economic plan to prosper. And I use economics because a lot of people say things like, well, you know, what about the economy?

We need to have jobs and all of that. But look, if you don't take care of the unborn, don't expect to prosper in other ways. And it makes me think about Isaiah forty nine verse fifteen. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born, though she may forget, I will not forget. So God is saying maybe the society may push these these babies aside, but he says, I won't forget them. Right. And another verse that comes up for me is in Deuteronomy twenty seven verse twenty five.

It says, cursed is anyone who accepts payment to kill an innocent person and all the people will reply, amen. And when I think about this, I know people may say, well, I'm not the one that's aborting the baby or I'm not the doctor that's performing the abortion. But when you vote for someone who you know is going to legislate for that, then you are signing on and saying, yes, you have my allegiance, that is OK for you to go and abort babies.

So it's almost like you're doing the same thing. You're you're you're part of the plot to kill that baby. And you can look on websites for these different candidates and see if Planned Parenthood is one of their key endorsement people. And Planned Parenthood actually has on their website a whole page that is dedicated to who is for Planned Parenthood. And you can actually look people up and see who you know, which candidates are part of that whole thing, where Planned Parenthood is gaining that popularity and that allegiance from that candidate. And so you really need to pay attention to those things.

Yeah. And Planned Parenthood is so deceptive because that name, it sounds good. Planned Parenthood.

That sounds like a good name. Planning out how to be good parents or planning out parenthood. But the organization was started by Margaret Singer, who was a racist white woman, and she started it for the purpose of getting rid of the black race. That was the whole reason why it started was for genocide.

And we need to know what we're supporting along the line of what you're sharing. And also, I want to share Leviticus 20 verses two through five. Again, you shall say to the children of Israel, whoever of the children of Israel or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Moloch, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from his people because he is giving some of his children, some of his descendants, I should say, to Moloch to defile my sanctuary and profane my holy name. And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man when he gives some of his descendants to Moloch and they do not kill him, then I will set my face against that man and against his family. And I will cut him off from his people and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Moloch.

So that's a mouthful. But let me just share real quick that we at this point in time, this is in the Old Testament. So this was not the age of grace.

People then were stoned to death. But we are in the age of grace. So we don't advocate killing anyone that is an abortionist. Some people have taken that into their own hands over the years and decided to go out and kill abortionists, even though they declared themselves to be pro-lifers. But we are pro-lifers for everyone at all stages. But here in the nation of Israel, what happened is this was during a time in which this idol god Moloch was, they had this practice of what they call passing the children through the fire and they literally sacrificed their children alive.

They burned them alive to this idol god Moloch. And so God is saying right here that I am going to punish all who do so and not just the ones who are participating, but even those who know that it is taking place but are choosing to do nothing. So all of us here in this nation, we know that abortion is taking place by the thousands on a daily basis. And if you are just sitting by saying, well, I'm not participating in it. I'm not doing it.

I'm good. You're not fighting for the unborn. Well, God is going to hold you still accountable and responsible.

Yes, he is. And I don't think a lot of people think about the fact that when you look at Planned Parenthood, they include abortion in as birth control. And it's sad to look at it like that because they'll consider birth control as being I can kill my baby from conception all the way up to after birth, ninth month. And how can we not call that murder?

How can we not stand as ambassadors for Christ and say we're going to stand for these children who don't have a voice? Yeah, it is murder. Absolutely. And there are politicians out there. We've known there's been for years this legislation called the Born Alive Act. And what that act is for is so that if a baby survives a botched abortion and that has happened, then the act is to say you are to care for that baby and to give it whatever care you would in any other case. Well, there are politicians out there that have voted against it. They say, no, the mother wanted to abort the baby anyway. Let the baby die.

Go ahead and toss it in the trash. And I have to say, here in our state where we live, Governor Cooper, our governor voted against that act. His rationale was there are already laws on the books to cover that kind of thing. That was his rationale. And we're not going to get into a deep discussion on that today.

But but that's not accurate. But but why would anybody vote against a bill that says to provide care to a baby that has survived an abortion? But our governor voted against it. There have been many others who have voted against it. Barack Obama voted against the same thing. And, you know, you have to ask yourself the question, who are you supporting? What do they stand for? And again, folks, we we're here not to try again to tell you specific people to vote for, not to vote for.

I know I'm naming some names, but we're really coming at it more from the standpoint of platforms. And when you talk about murder, I heard a lady who was a nurse giving accounts when she was pro-choice. She worked as a nurse and she said she saw in which partial birth abortion in which they delivered the baby feet first. Everything but the head. And she said before the head came out, the doctor took scissors, stabbed the baby in the base of its head. The baby's arms just went out beside it, you know, as someone that how they react as if they're falling.

The baby's arms went out and then the doctor attached a vacuum to the base of the baby's head, sucked his brain out and the baby went limp. And she testified to that as to how barbaric that is. And people, God is going to judge. As a matter of fact, I think God already is judging us for this.

I think he's already judging us. But there's more to come if we do not repent and turn from our wicked ways. One other thing I want to share. Another lady gave a testimony of that. She went to heaven by way of a vision, whether she really went to heaven or not. I don't know.

That's debatable. But she said that she went to a location in which she saw Jesus. And there were all these little toddlers standing around Jesus as far as she could see. And she asked him the question, who are these? And Jesus said, these are all those who were murdered in their mother's womb.

And she was just heartbroken. And it breaks my heart when I think about that, that that is taking place. And again, we are in a society in which there are so many as Christians who are going along with with these political parties, political candidates that are advocating for this. We should not be of those. We should be of the light. We should not be of darkness. If you're just tuning in with us, you are tuned in to God first. We're talking about Christians and politics.

What should be our approach? Don't go away. We'll be right back. You are tuned into the God First program. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel.

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We're talking today about Christians and politics and what should be the approach to the election. If you are just now joining us and want to hear this in its entirety, you can listen to the full show at Godfirst.org. That's G.O.D. the number one S.T.O.R.G. We would also love to hear from you. You can write us at God First Bible Fellowship P.O.

Box 266 Knightdale, North Carolina 27545. All right. So we have looked at number one issue is the sanctity of life. What's number two for you when you go to decide who you're going to vote for? I think a big one for me is marriage and sexuality.

I think you can easily go to the candidates Web sites and see once again who their endorsements are. And you tend to see whether they're endorsed by an LGBTQ organization or something like that. But the whole thing for me is this the importance and the sacredness of family is God's institution. And I would think also blacks would really have a say on this because it's so important to keep the family structure together as a father in the home and a mother in the home because it impacts black people tremendously. And it's been shown that when there's not a father in the home with the mother that black children are more likely to grow up, not graduate from high school, not go to college.

And these things significantly impact how successful they are and how they do economically and things like that. But I truly believe, of course, that God created man and male and female. And this is how he designed marriage. But the whole idea of taking the LGBTQ rights and totally doing away with what God intended for marriage to be. That's an abomination and it's ungodly.

And remember, folks, we're talking here about the platforms you can go and look up the platforms of the parties and their candidates and you can see where they stand on these issues. Yeah, the family is so important in the black community where more than 70 percent of babies are born to fatherless homes. And then we have organizations out there that are trying to redefine or just have these movements going on in our countries in which they want to get rid of the nuclear family. They don't want fathers in the home. Well, that's that's against the word of God.

All right. So for me, the next one is the nation of Israel. The Bible makes it very clear where God stands with the nation of Israel.

Joel, Chapter three, verses one through two. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people, my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up my land.

There are people out there that believe in a two state solution. They are wanting to take part of Israel and give it to the Jews in part and give it to the Palestinians. God said, no, this land was promised way back in the Bible days to Abraham. And when there are individuals out there that are saying, divide the land, they're going against the word of God. God made it very clear. And we find in Genesis chapter 12, verse three, I will bless those who bless thee and I will curse those who curse thee. When you do things against God's word, when it comes to Israel, you can you're going to bring a curse upon your land.

And the Bible says that Israel is the apple of God's eye. Now, I is sensitive. I don't like having my eyes mess with. I go to the eye doctor.

I can't stand it. I'd rather get a needle any day. And I know you wouldn't like for me to come over there and poke you in your eye. And so when you mess with Israel, that's like poking God in the eye.

Nobody's going to sit by and let someone poke them in the eye. But that is that is what's happening. And so it's so important that we understand when it comes to Israel, that we are not to divide God's holy land. And I would like to add, and I'm not going to say which platform these are for. I'm just going to read what is said on each platform. There is one platform that says we support a negotiated two state solution that ensures Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders. And it upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own. And another one that says, therefore, support for Israel is an expression of Americanism and it is the responsibility of our government to advance politics that reflect American's strong desire for a relationship with no daylight between America and Israel.

We oppose any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms, and we call for the immediate termination of all U.S. funding of any entity that attempts to do so. Our party is proud to stand with Israel now and always. Yep, Israel is important. So do not be on the wrong side of God when it comes to Israel. So, OK, so we've looked at number one sanctity of life, sanctity of marriage, and we've looked at Israel.

What else do you have? I want to talk about religious freedoms, and I don't think that people realize how important this is for us. There are entities such as religious congregations, of course, then you have schools, you have pregnancy resource centers as we fight for them born. There are different charities and health programs and shelters and things like that that have religious freedoms that they implement in how they carry on their business. And I know that people do not want the government to come and tell them how they're supposed to worship or how they're supposed to think and things like this. But if our religious freedoms are taken away, because I think you some people may have already seen some candidates really bash Christianity. And I think it's important for us to understand that our religious freedoms can be taken away just like that. And what we don't want is the government to come in and be so powerful that they can tell us what to think and how to act.

And if they intrude in on our minds and how we're supposed to do things, then how are we going to fully be able to worship Christ? If you think we're persecuted now, just think what it would be like if they started to take away religious freedoms. And it also, I know this ties into education a little bit, but there are a lot of homeschool parents, including us, who homeschool our children, and we're able to teach our children the Word of God.

But of course, these things are not allowed in public schools. And so just think if homeschooling is taken away because they fear there's too much religion in that. You know, there are certain things that we have to think about to be able to make sure we have our religious rights. And if you are a small business owner, you should have a choice in how you want to run your business. And it should not be up to your neighbors to decide how your religion should impact your business. And I think that that will become a hot topic, a hot thing if, you know, those freedoms are taken away.

Absolutely. And there's definitely a push to take away those freedoms. Romans Chapter one, verse 32 reads, Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. This here is the apostle Paul was writing, and he's speaking of he had given a long list of immoral behavior. And he's saying that also those who approve of those who practice them. So when you're talking about killing of the unborn, when you're talking about when it comes to marriage, when it comes to the nation of Israel, when you walk into that booth and you cast your vote, you are approving of whatever that candidate's platform is on. So you can't say you're wiping your hands clean and say that I'm a conservative on one side as far as religiously. But then I can go and vote liberal. It doesn't work that way. You're muddy in the waters when you do that. And God speaks of that also.

That's right. Separation of church and state. That's what a lot of people will cry when we speak about these issues. But the separation of church and state is not in the Constitution. A lot of people think that it is, but it's not in the Constitution.

There's nowhere to be found there. And that may come as a surprise to many. But the idea came about from Thomas Jefferson in which he wrote a letter. And the letter was simply for the sake of keeping intrusive government out of the freedom of religion. So it doesn't mean that we as Christians are not supposed to reflect our values when it comes to politics, because we are. But it says that the government is not to incorporate a state church.

And we've seen through history in which state sanctioned churches typically do not work because what happens is they get in bed, so to speak, with the government and it becomes corrupted. But there, this whole idea of separation of church and state, it does not apply, people. When we start saying, what does the Bible say about this? What does the Bible say about that? We are not to divorce ourselves from God when it comes to any part of our life, whether it's politics or anything. So you can't have this whole separation of church and state argument. All right. Well, Danita, in the final minute, any other thoughts concerning this topic?

I just want to add on that. We know that the cultural majority today, a lot of it is in darkness. A lot of people are walking in darkness. And our religious freedoms currently keep us from, it prevents that cultural majority from taking their power because they feel like they're very powerful and got a lot of that progressive and liberal and leftist backing. And they want to take that power and impose their beliefs on us from a religious standpoint. And that religious freedom is a big deal. And so we see how dark the culture is becoming. And they want to take that power and remove the power of Jesus Christ from us.

Yeah, so I think we are going to wrap it on that note. We hope, folks, that this is giving you some insight as to how you should approach how we should approach elections as Christians. And I just want to say out there for those Christians who say that, well, politics is in is worldly, is in the world.

And our kingdom is not of this world. And you just decide to sit out. That is not what God calls us to do, because when we sit out, it leaves legislation to be dictated by the unrighteous. And then you're going to have immorality in the land, which leads to the judgment of God. So get out and vote.

Be active. Vote the Bible. Vote what the Bible says again.

Don't vote your as people say, vote your conscience because a conscience can become seared. But do as Danita said earlier. First, go in your prayer room and pray. Seek the Holy Spirit.

Ask him to guide you. And you will do things in accordance to his way in his will. So I want to thank you for tuning in to us this week.

Please come back and join us again next week. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel until the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God first reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our Web site, God first dot org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Thank you.